


A Robin Redbreast In a Cage

by Silverheart



Series: Bats and Birds [1]
Category: Batman: Arkham Asylum (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, First Meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 14:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4438778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverheart/pseuds/Silverheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now that Bruce has decided to 'officially sanction' Barbara as Batgirl, he's decided she needs some lessons in hand-to-hand combat.</p><p>So he sends her to find someone who can help her out at a cage match in a less-than-savory locale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Robin Redbreast In a Cage

The place reeked of sweat, with strong undertones of blood. Barb scowled at the leering meatheads perched all around the room. They shrugged, for the most part, and turned their attention to the ring.

Well, Bruce Wayne had said it wasn’t the cleanliest venue he’d seen. That was…true. One of the guys in the cage was laying flat out, a trail of blood leaking from his mouth. As she got closer, she saw a few of his teeth lying on the mat. The stained, yellowed mat. 

A couple of the bouncers unlocked the cage and dragged the loser out. The winner watched, catching a water bottle tossed by the referee. 

“When I say ‘don’t try that on me’,” he said, “I mean it.” 

Money changed hands all through the crowd, along with grumbling and laughter. It unnerved Barb, but as far as she knew it all legal, just another facet of Gotham’s amateur Mixed Martial Arts league. Still, some of the men in the crowd looked like the thugs she’d seen brought into the GCPD for running extortion rackets. 

One of these was the guys Bruce attend to help her learn how to fight better? Her jiu-jitsu instructors would have a fit if they found out she’d come here. 

She squared her shoulders. All or nothing, that was how it was going to work now. There was worse than this in Gotham, far worse, and she’d chosen to be one of those going toe-to-toe with it. 

“So another win for Drake, huh?” the nearest bettor asked, “You’d think someone that good would try to go pro.” 

Barb stiffened. Drake, that’s who Bruce had said to look for. The winner had already left the cage. She scanned the crowd for him, trying to remember his features. He’d been shirtless, she remembered that part. 

“Heh, you’d think.” The one guy’s friend, who looked like his nose had flattened by a baseball bat, flipped open his wallet. “I’m done here. The old lady will have my head when she finds out how much I’ve lost tonight.” 

They turned towards the door, the less-ugly one brushing past…and stopping to leer. Barb suppressed a shiver at his elevator stare. She’d thought a baggy t-shirt and jeans would be enough not to attract any attention, but clearly this guy didn’t care. “You go on home. Looks like I’ve found something sweet.” 

Barb didn’t back up as he circled her a few times. Was she just a creep magnet? Most of the girls here were hardly wearing anything, and he bothered to stop for her? “So, red, any plans for tonight?” 

She _hated_ that nickname. “Go away,” she stated clearly. 

The guy just grinned. “Aw, come on. I’ve never seen you around here before. You want some advice on winning? Drake’s your best bet.” 

“He definitely is,” another man said. Both Barb and the creep turned as the speaker grabbed him by the shoulder. She blinked. The winner of the fight. Drake. “She said go away, Mr. Lindell. So go.” 

“Or what?” the creep asked, “You’ll knock my teeth out? Lose your chance at the pros that way, kid. House rules are no fighting outside the cage.” 

Drake shrugged. He was leaner than she’d have expected. The way Bruce fought, she’d thought he’d send her to some muscle-bound gorilla for the instruction he said she ‘needed’. “You’d know best, wouldn’t you? Besides, the pros aren’t really my goal.” 

Enough with the posturing already! Barb slammed her foot into the creep’s instep, then swept his legs from under him. He hit the ground hard, groaning, and Barb added injury to injury by kicking him hard in the stomach. 

Drake stepped away as one of the bouncers dragged the guy away. “He started it.” 

“Lindell? Yeah, he would.” The big man gave her the stinkeye. “Don’t make it a habit, little lady.” The man hauled the creep away through the crowd. 

“Nicely done,” Drake said, “You want to start in the lady’s division?” 

She shook her head. “You’re Drake?” 

“Tim Drake, yeah. Why do you ask?” He grinned, preening. 

She looked at him critically. He was, at a guess, about her age, though he was as leanly muscular as any of the SWAT guys at the department. His hair was shaved down to military-short buzz cut, and he still wasn’t wearing a shirt. God, what a meathead, and a cocky one at that. “You’re the guy who’s supposed to help me?” 

He cocked his head. “Help you?” 

She nodded. “A mutual friend said you’d help me train in unarmed combat.” He raised an eyebrow. “He’s got work for me.” 

Tim Drake’s eyes widened, the cocksure demeanor shattering. “ _What_?” 

**Author's Note:**

> 1) The only person in the series who calls her 'Babs' is Hallucinatory Joker, I believe. Everyone else says Barb or Barbara, or uses her aliases.  
> 2) Betting has always been a legal part of MMA- which is usually what people mean by cage fighting these days, which the devs said Tim does.  
> 3) This owes too much to Here Comes the Boom, the MMA movie with Kevin James, because I am lazy.  
> 4) Most MMA folks are not like this at all, but the ones in Gotham would be, because it is Not a Nice Place. In fact, why do people live there?


End file.
